Introduction To Quranic Arabic Script

'Masterly work ... Leads the reader patiently but directly not merely into Qur'anic writing but into the heart of that Holy Book itself ... By the time we have followed Dr Ahmad to the end of this splendid work we have learned something new and indeed something uplifting about one of the world's great books.' Prof. F. E. Peters, New York University.

This manual is for self-directed learners who are already familiar with how to write and pronounce the Arabic alphabet. It contains ten simple lessons & corresponding exercises that will give you a basic mastery of Arabic grammer as well as an understanding of the most frequent words found in the Quran. The ultimate aim is that by completing this manual, you will have a beginner/intermediate level fluency of the Quran in its original Arabic form.

The Arabic alphabet has a rich history, one that is closely linked with the development of culture and society in the Middle East. In this comprehensive introduction the authors trace the origins of the Arabic alphabet back to Aramaic, which also gave rise to the Hebrew and Greek alphabets. Using detailed illustrations the authors investigate early Arabic papyri and early Islamic inscriptions as well as classical Arabic scripts. John F. Healey and G. Rex Smith bring the story up to the present day by examining the practice of calligraphy, printing and computing in Arabic.

The Routledge Introduction to Qur'anic Arabic is an innovative language course designed for users who have been reading and hearing the Qur'an since childhood and who would like to deepen their knowledge of its language, grammar and vocabulary. Accompanying audio material is available on the Routledge website.

An Introduction to Koranic and Classical Arabic is an elementary-level grammar of standard classical Arabic, the literary norm of the Arabic language that has not changed appreciably in fourteen hundred years. An indispensable tool for all who are interested in Islamic religion, science, and literature, the language presented in this book will enable the learner to study firsthand the primary sources of Islamic civilization and the classics of the Islamic Near East.

"What was the language of the Quran like, and how do we know? Today, the Quran is recited in ten different reading traditions, whose linguistic details are mutually incompatible. This work uncovers the earliest linguistic layer of the Quran. It demonstrates that the text was composed in the Hijazi vernacular dialect, and that in the centuries that followed different reciters started to classicize the text to a new linguistic ideal, the ideal of the arabiyyah. This study combines data from ancient Quranic manuscripts, the medieval Arabic grammarians and ample data from the Quranic reading traditions to arrive at new insights into the linguistic history of Quranic Arabic"--